Weston got off to a poor start to the new season when they were crushed at home by Exmouth.

Weston 10 pts

Exmouth 65 pts

THE kick-off was preceded by a minutes’ silence in memory of Weston members Mike Campbell, Bill Poole and John Cornish, and thereafter the carnage commenced.

Weston found themselves on the end of a hiding, courtesy of a well-organised and established Exmouth team, containing 13 players from last season.

The home side is going through a rebuilding process, with many newcomers, and ongoing unavailability and injuries, but there is no excuse for the ease with which the opposition scored their eight tries.

The final score was made to look even worse as Exmouth kicker Meadows did not miss one of his 11 pots at goal for a personal haul of 25 points.

The first 20 minutes were well contested, with just a penalty separating the sides, but the Cockles scored thrice in seven minutes through a scrambled effort by a prop forward, a further score by their diminutive, but elusive full-back, and a penalty following a yellow card for Weston prop Walker.

A further converted try and a penalty in the next quarter of an hour brought up half-time with the hosts trailing 0-30. A scoring opportunity on the Exmouth line was lost in the final bout of play when the home line-out misfired for the visitors to progress 70 metres down the pitch.

There was to be no Weston fightback in the second half as the Cockles continued to win the battle in the loose and at the line-out, although the home scrum acquitted itself well in the set piece.

Three further tries were conceded in the next 20 minutes as the score went past the half-century. At this point Weston showed some spirit. The ball was retained for several minutes, and Harry Jones, who had made several unsupported breaks, showed excellent speed to outpace a defender and pick up a corner try from an accurately placed kick.

The joy was short lived as Exmouth responded with a simple overlap score. Weston doubled their meagre tally when Morrissey touched down on 75 minutes following a series of scrums on the opposition tryline, and then gave away another try with a midfield interception and a simple run-in.

On Saturday, the Seasiders travel to Newton Abbot.

Weston team: Young, Watkins, Jones, Edwards, Coutts, Goode (Middlemiss), Tuttiett, Walker, Hocking, Hobbs (Crompton), Glen, Hudson, Cox, Morrissey (Johnson), Sparks.